What can I do with an infrared camera?

[Taulant Sholla]

I just inherited an infrared camera (https://www.flir.com/products/c2/). Other than taking entertaining thermographs (cold ice cube in a warm hand, etc.), can you recommend some clever demonstrations I could show to my fellow calc-based physics students?

The best I came up with is taking a picture of a resistor to show i²R heating as part of our unit on circuits

Then a friend suggested heating a large chocolate bar in a microwave for a few moments, then take a thermograph to identifying the nodes/anti-nodes, and calculating the speed of light. This seems like a fantastic idea!

Do you have any others?

 

[berkeman]

Does it take video too? If so, you can see the IR Remote Control signal if you point it at the camera and press buttons. (you can also see that on many smartphone cameras, but less bright)

If you have access to some open circuit boards that are running, you can see which components are the hottest. We use a FLIR camera for that purpose here in our electronics R&D Lab.

 

[Andy Resnick]

I just inherited an infrared camera (https://www.flir.com/products/c2/). Other than taking entertaining thermographs (cold ice cube in a warm hand, etc.), can you recommend some clever demonstrations I could show to my fellow calc-based physics students?

The best I came up with is taking a picture of a resistor to show i²R heating as part of our unit on circuits

Then a friend suggested heating a large chocolate bar in a microwave for a few moments, then take a thermograph to identifying the nodes/anti-nodes, and calculating the speed of light. This seems like a fantastic idea!

Do you have any others?

Cool- it uses the 8-12 um range (LWIR). That's best for 'anthropocentric' hot things- the range of temperatures that we can generally tolerate. Have fun playing around with this!

Here's something to try- I believe a thin sheet of plastic (like a viewgraph) is opaque to this range of wavelengths; you can 'hide' behind one! Likewise, I believe you could 'see' through smoke; try viewing through a smoky BBQ.

DO NOT point it at the sun! DO NOT try and view a CO2 laser!

You could probably walk through a parking lot and determine which cars arrived most recently.

On the 'science' side, leave an assortment of painted, rusted, and polished metal 'coupons' in the sun and after they warm up, see what the camera tells you: the surface paint/polish/rust/etc. changes the emissivity, which will negate the camera calibration (that's the 'emissivity correction' function). The metal parts will seem to have different temperatures optically, but they will have the same temperatures when measured with a thermocouple.

 

[Taulant Sholla]

These sound *great* Andy - thank you!

 

[anorlunda]

If the temperature range is adequate, thermographs are great for troubleshooting.

• Heating/cooling leaks in houses.
• Worn bearings on electric motors or wheel bearings on cars.
• Tire tread temperatures on auto or bicycle tires after a trip.
• A high resistance junction in any electric circuit inside or outside.
• Physics demo, sandpaper on wood.
• Grab a mug with cold or warm water. See if it leaves a hand print for a short time. Will the other hand look the same as the one grabbing?

You could make a very long list.

 

[Taulant Sholla]

If the temperature range is adequate, thermographs are great for troubleshooting.

• Heating/cooling leaks in houses.
• Worn bearings on electric motors or wheel bearings on cars.
• Tire tread temperatures on auto or bicycle tires after a trip.
• A high resistance junction in any electric circuit inside or outside.
• Physics demo, sandpaper on wood.
• Grab a mug with cold or warm water. See if it leaves a hand print for a short time. Will the other hand look the same as the one grabbing?

You could make a very long list.

Thanks for these suggestions!

 

[Taulant Sholla]

Does it take video too? If so, you can see the IR Remote Control signal if you point it at the camera and press buttons. (you can also see that on many smartphone cameras, but less bright)

If you have access to some open circuit boards that are running, you can see which components are the hottest. We use a FLIR camera for that purpose here in our electronics R&D Lab.

Great ideas, thank you!